The "Moray Triangle" is now so well known that someone should publish the route on bikepacking.com. I'll not bother as the GPX from this week's ride round this route resembles a dropped plate of spaghetti...
I didn't actually mean to do it. Inspired by Jimmy's and Sean's escapades on the Badger Divide, I hatched a plan to pedal along to Callander and then do the Badger route up to Schneckie, cut east on a route following various tracks and trails (roughly the Pictish trail route) then head south by some suitable means. However the weather looked horrible for the Saturday evening and Sunday and as I've done pretty much all of the BD route this seemed a bit pointless. Up east looked drier and my new gravel bolide was duly contemplated for such an undertaking. But I've kind of done that and whilst it is very pleasant, I was fancying something a bit more interesting, riding wise. So I duly rode round the procrastination loop a few times before taking the radical step of going onto the Scotrail website and seeing where I could get to on the Saturday. Answer? Up the Inverness line. Aviemore seemed a good bet so I coughed up and did a map re-appraisal.
The train journey went OK after a leisurely pedal down to Inverkeithing. Up to Perth took an eternity as it stops at every station and I had to wait 40 minutes for the schneckie train. This was rammed so a bit of creativity was needed to wedge the Jones in amongst a bunch of carbon gravel bikes with minimalist bags on. I found a seat next to the train drunk who was cheery enough although he did cause a certain amount of carriage embarrassment when his girlfriend phoned and he answered on speakerphone allowing us all to hear about his domestic problems...
Departing the train at Aviemore was a relief for about 1 minute. The entire town was rammed with extremely large motorbikes and their extremely large owners. Oh gawd it was 'Thunder in the Glens' the Harley Owners Group rally that takes place every year up here. I'd my heart set on a pint in the Bridge Inn but it was queued out the door. There was a terrible band playing 'rock' dross and there were far too many people strutting around wearing leather waist coats. Grumbling mightily and resisting the temptation to shout "you are all *******" I got out of there fast. Then I berated myself for such negative thoughts as this lot were no worse than us lot in a way and people being into stuff, whatever that stuff may be, is a Good Thing. I prefer the minimalism of my Triumph, however. Then I recalled my last encounter with this rally which was in August 2014 when I pitched up on my successful Cairngorms loop Ride, in fact my first successful ITT. 10 years ago to the day!
The chippy at Dalfaber is a good 'un and Hog free so I grabbed a fish supper and sat under the next door Co-op awning scoffing it whilst a few sprinkles came through. The forecast for up here was also not that great but after grabbing a few supplies at the Co-op and getting going properly, the sun did shine.
On the trail at last, NCN 7 north, the relief of leaving all behind boiling off me like steam. I built this route in 1998 and it's survived the test of time. Part of the same scheme was improving a track over the hill from Boat of Garten to Carrbridge. This has now been abandoned by Sustrans as the NCN, alas. Instead you have to use the not that quiet B road. Last year, Transport Scotland consulted on sorting this route out but nothing has materialised on the ground yet. I suspect the consultants fees for prepping the options and doing the consultation will have been several times what it cost to do up the track over the hill....
Right, enough of all that, l'm on holiday! And a new trail!! This was via the wee road east then north from Carrbridge and up into the hills north of the A938. I'd tried to do this track a few years ago from the north but couldn't find it on the GPS as it wasn't shown on my 2010 version of the maps. Of course I conveniently forgot this fact today, until I was heading into the wilderness and trying to fathom turns. According to the GPS I was in the middle of a blank nothingness. Fortunately, and for the first time, my OS app on the phone worked and I was able to work out where to go.
This eventually spat me out on the Lochindorb road and thence onto the Dava way. Now I'd figured on dossing in the wee hut about halfway along the route and as it was after 8, I was ready for a bivvy. So I cruised along with the help of a stiff breeze and plenty of sunshine on high. I passed an old brick built hut with its window out and a fair bit of muck on the floor, and figured this would be plan B. I got to the Halfway hut a few minutes later only to discover someone else in residence! Bugger. He was cheery enough and even offered to shuffle over to let me in but it's really only a one person hut (the sign on the wall notes "This is not a bothy!") Now what. It would probably rain in the night so a shed would be handy. Plus I was done for the day and didn't fancy yet another mad thrash trying to find a decent bivvy spot before it got dark. Right then, back to the alternate shed.
This is scuzzy - the window is out and the floor covered in muck. That said, although the door was open, there was no evidence of the sheep having been in, or the usual smell of it having been used as a toilet. I swept as much of the dirt up as possible with a bit of heather, wondered if I should just pitch the tarp up next to it, then got my gear out and sat out in the cool breeze having a beer and contemplating my journey to this point. As the sun set, coolness drove me inside and into my bag. Whisky helped me pass the hour to bed time and a sound sleep followed.
The far more salubrious halfway hut. Actually a nice little interpretation center with info about the history of the rail line and area.
The next morning dawned with clear blue skies. After a quick pack up I departed in search of nice trails and breakfast. The Dava way took me into the woods around the mighty river Findhorn where I picked up the fab riverside trail. This was empty at the early hour and I duly hooned it big style down to the Logie Steading cafe for breakfast, my head louping after too much whisky the night before. A large amount of food and tea followed, then.... more ace riverside trails. I rode back up the road a ways and crossed the river in search of more singletrack on the west bank. It's all a hoot and well worth spending some time here.
Not a bivvy spot as it was locked - actually one of several well used fishing huts. The porch offers some shelter however!
I exited the trails to check out Darnaway forest and another possible shed, which turned out to be a water tank.... It's raised up above the ground so you could kip under it, in a pinch. There then followed an excess of road riding on NCN 1 to Nairn and a fine harbourside cafe. An American chap was asking after my bike so we chatted about various outdoor adventures and I gave him some shouts about stuff to do hereabouts.
So off we go on the Moray Coastal Trail. After a bit of faffing through the dunes I picked up an easy trail into Culbin forest. There is a ton of single track in here so I tried to bag as much as I could. On emerging onto the beach I noted a large amount of grey cloud incoming. After the sunny start, it had steadily clouded over so this looked like rain on the way, contrary to any weather forecast I had seen to that point. Hey ho....
Sure enough, a wee while later the drizzle started. I'd originally planned to bash along the trail past Roselisle forest and Burghead, maybe getting to Lossie woods for a bivvy. But the trail between Hopeman and Lossie is a bit slow going through the dunes and I'd rather do this in nice weather. I'd an inkling it would dry up later so I figured that the best way to manage the rain was to stick to woods and ride pretty much every track I could find and remember from previous visits.
More wanderings took me to the far eastern edge of the Forest. I can see the pub from here! This is the end of a track that used to go onto the beach, erosion has done it's work so there is a now a 20 foot drop. If you ever cruise along the beach to this point, beware of the tide as it comes in mighty quick. A few years ago we nearly got caught out by this, heading for this track. We had to back track sharpish to find a spot to get off the beach!
This lot seemed to be making an awful meal of rigging their boat. A block on the map revealed itself as a well secured boat shed which would not be a bivvy spot as even if you could get in, the chances are you'd end up floating....
Despite it coming and going, the rain never really got that heavy and when I finally exited the forest, the horizon did indeed look to be clearing. I cruised along more back roads that NCN 1 follows, past Benromach Distillery and out along the River Findhorn once more to Findhorn itself. I'm told the Findhorn Foundation is in financial difficulties so maybe the hippy camp will have to up sticks and depart. There was no real evidence of this on the ground though and a few more luxury 'eco' homes seemed to have appeared. On approach, the rain did actually get quite heavy, despite the horizon now being all clear. So of course I had to go to the pub to sit it out. In fact I ended up eating here (£21 for an average burger and chips and a pint) whilst contemplating my onward moves and digs.
Right, I'll head to Burghead, grab some evening snacks and a beer or three from the Co-op and then head back into the woods for a bivvy. This worked incredibly well, as I bagged as much of the fab singletrack as I could remember, scoped out a spot, grabbed beers, headed back and got settled in.
Whilst sat on the loo earlier that day, I noted a tick crawling across my leg. It must have got caught up in my shorts or something as it didn't look like it had sank its teeth into me. I was somewhat wary of more in my woodland retreat but the only insects I noted were devils coachman beetles, which are rather large and tend to curl their abdomens up, scorpion like, which is a bit alarming. Anyway, a very pleasant evening ensued, followed by a sound sleep.
So off we go. To Hopeman, the coastal trail is a cycleway but beyond here it gets more interesting. A bit of heaving up some steps leads you to a lovely gravel singletrack which twists and turns its way long the top of the low cliffs.
The trail, and more fab views north, with the ever present sea a fine backdrop. Then it got much better (after getting a bit worse) A few k short of Lossiemouth. The nice path dumps you onto the beach and the high tide route is a somewhat overgrown and vague line through the dunes. I'd struggled with this section the last time I did this route, got lost and ended up in the adjacent golf course. Today the tide was well out, so I hit the beach and cruised easily along the sand, all the way to Lossie.
Hard to tell what this was - A Minke whale, I suspect. I'm glad I approached it upwind as after taking this pic and riding off, the smell was appalling...
At Lossie, I indulged in more cafe culture having a nice and expensive cappuccino on the harbourside, sat out in the sun, the sun!
This is a new bridge put in a few years ago to replace the old wooden footbridge across the bay. If you can't ride the beach, you have to ride out of the town on the road and get into Lossie forest further along. Today I rolled off the bridge, onto the sand and fairly flew along the beach, finally leaving it as the tide was coming in and the shingle a bit hard going.
A short push up over the shingle bar got me onto a rough trail along the edge of the forest.
Gun emplacements are dotted along the coast, along with miles of tank stoppers. Looks like a certain amount of anarchy goes on here, given the graffiti, fire sites and much evidence of use by motocross bikes. They would make a good bivvy spot, but probably not on a weekend...
Finally I emerged at Kingston, did a nice trail to Garmouth and then joined NCN 1 at the fine old railway bridge. From here it was all on the Speyside way up to my friends place at Blacksboat. I should have scoped out a route through Ordiqueish and Ben Aigen forests but ended up just following the SSW.
Oh dear, looks like the Spey is changing it's path. hopefully the route can be moved inland a bit.
Total distance was 220 miles. The 'triangle' is defo worth doing and you can throw in a few variations to add interest. So a good trip for my August Bivvy. September next but Dad is having another crisis so not sure how it will pan out...
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